Dear Neighbors,
Last week, I sent an email providing some details of the long-awaited vaccine and testing mandates that the Biden Administration is placing on private businesses and for health care workers at facilities who care for Medicare recipients.
I have long been clear about my opposition to vaccine mandates and believe that personal health decisions should be left between individuals and their health care providers. There are already dozens of lawsuits that have been filed challenging the constitutionality of this executive order. I eagerly await each of these lawsuits being adjudicated by the courts.
The rule, released by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) under the Labor Department, does not include an exemption for truck drivers, threatening the trucking industry and the nation’s ongoing supply chain crisis.
To combat this specific issue, I joined a group of 23 Republican state representatives in sending a letter to Sharon Block, Acting Administrator at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, urging her to exempt truck drivers from the vaccine mandate.
The American Trucking Association reported that the vaccine mandate puts carriers at risk for losing approximately 74% of those unvaccinated employees or 37% of their total workforce to smaller carriers or retirements/resignations.
At a time when our country is facing ongoing supply chain issues due to President Biden and Democrats' mismanagement of the economy, we cannot risk losing additional workers. Truckers play a critical role in agriculture, food, logging, manufacturing, retail, energy, and other industries. Now is not the time to put further stress on the supply chain.
Staying in Touch
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me to share your thoughts, questions, and concerns as it relates to state government. I can be reached at 651-296-4229 or via email at rep.glenn.gruenhagen@house.mn.
Have a great day,
Glenn